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Isn't the whole point of a FCC approval to make sure that communications equipment doesn't cause interference in neighboring systems, and to be as resilient as possible to nearby residual interference? If that's the case, then I'd say that they did a lousy job with whatever equipment is in that Verizon tower: Probably a CMDA or LTE antenna?
And 800ft seems kinda far. I mean BT and Wifi only have a range of a few hundred feet, and when you're talking almost 1,000 ft, that seems kinda far.
What kind of laws are you breaking by running NON-COMMUNICATIONS equipment that happens to be nearby to a cell tower? I mean my Gigabyte 280x all have a FCC approved label on them, and I'd assume all GPUs would. I don't see how they could fine you for running FCC approved, non-communications computer hardware in your own home. I'm no lawyer, but I'd keep running them regardless of what some technician tells me, and if they really do have a law or regulation somewhere that tells me I can't, then I'd consider stopping.
So in the end, I say it's bullshit, but what does my opinion matter? If you really want to keep them up, I'd say you gotta ask a few questions:
1) What kind of cell tower is nearby? What frequencies?
2) What kind of interference is being emitted? What specific frequencies?
3) What laws or regulations are there that say you can't run your hardware?
4) Are these laws or regulations enforced? What fines/consequences are there?
That's just to start. I'm sure I'll have more questions once you get those 4 answered.
And 800ft seems kinda far. I mean BT and Wifi only have a range of a few hundred feet, and when you're talking almost 1,000 ft, that seems kinda far.
What kind of laws are you breaking by running NON-COMMUNICATIONS equipment that happens to be nearby to a cell tower? I mean my Gigabyte 280x all have a FCC approved label on them, and I'd assume all GPUs would. I don't see how they could fine you for running FCC approved, non-communications computer hardware in your own home. I'm no lawyer, but I'd keep running them regardless of what some technician tells me, and if they really do have a law or regulation somewhere that tells me I can't, then I'd consider stopping.
So in the end, I say it's bullshit, but what does my opinion matter? If you really want to keep them up, I'd say you gotta ask a few questions:
1) What kind of cell tower is nearby? What frequencies?
2) What kind of interference is being emitted? What specific frequencies?
3) What laws or regulations are there that say you can't run your hardware?
4) Are these laws or regulations enforced? What fines/consequences are there?
That's just to start. I'm sure I'll have more questions once you get those 4 answered.
800ft does seem relatively far for me too, but one of the four antennas on the tower is pointed directly at us with line of sight so that may be a factor.
I don't know much about FCC approval. My theory is that the cards weren't intended to be used in this way, and maybe they would have failed FCC tests if they were. Just speculation on my part though. They suggested that I contact the manufacturer and complain, but I doubt that would get me anywhere.
As for leaving the rigs running, it's not worth the few $ a day to risk the FCC knocking at my door next. The technicians seemed relieved that they finally found the source of what seems to have been a big issue for them, so I didn't want to be a jerk and refuse to turn it off.
They said the interference was around the 835mhz range. Wikipedia indicates that Verizon and ATT run their voice service at 850mhz, so I guess that's pretty close.
